Frederick Gannon

Frederick Gannon (8 October 1833-7 July 1890) was an Irish-born American politician who served as a Democratic New York City alderman from 1870 to 1890.

Biography
Frederick Gannon was born in Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland in 1833 to an Irish Catholic family of farmers. When his family's crop yields sharply declined during the Great Famine, they immediately left behind their home and emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. Gannon worked as a volunteer fighter, being nicknamed "the Hero of Henry Street" for rescuing two orphaned squatters from an apartment fire on Henry Street in 1859. Gannon was approached by Tammany Hall, which sought to capitalize off of his newfound fame and admiration, and he was appointed Chief Waste Collector of the Lower East Side, earning money form the waste management company's operations in the neighborhood. In 1870, he was elected as an alderman by the Tammany machine, and he represented the Lower East Side for twenty years. In 1890, he was accidentally struck and killed by a packed omnibus while walking down Broadway.